Acute responses of rat retina after optic nerve ligation: a biochemical and histochemical study

The response of rat retina after optic nerve ligation was studied by biochemical and light microscope autoradiographic methods. The uptake of labelled leucine, dopamine and GABA in operated retinas were all decreased as early as 1 day after ligation. Autoradiographic morphometry revealed variations in the time course as well as in the degree of reduction of substrate uptake ability in different retinal cell layers after ligation. Findings indicate the ganglion cells and the dopaminergic cells in the outer plexiform layer are more sensitive to interruption of neuronal flow. Moreover, there may be interactions between the photoreceptors, the GABAergic and the dopaminergic cells in rat retina.